York law firm Laucks & Monroe was an incubator for future judges

In hindsight, perhaps you could have called the York law offices of Laucks & Monroe an “incubator for future judges.”

Around 1985, three newly minted attorneys joined the York practice in its new building at 29 N. Duke St., on the corner of Clarke Avenue.

All three would eventually be elected judges.

Judge Daniel Clifford(Photo11: Submitted)

Daniel Clifford’s family moved to York when he was a child. A graduate of York Suburban High School and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore in 1984. He launched his law career at Laucks & Monroe the year he graduated.

York County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Flannelly(Photo11: Submitted)

Michael Flannelly grew up in New Jersey and did his undergraduate work at The College of Wooster, Ohio. He was awarded his law degree from Wake Forest University in North Carolina and began working for Laucks & Monroe in 1985 when he moved to York.

Judge John Kennedy(Photo11: Submitted)

John Kennedy was from Harrisburg and first attended Harrisburg Area Community College before earning his undergraduate degree from Eastern Kentucky University. He was awarded his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and began working for Laucks & Monroe in 1983.

“Dan, Mike and I were all there at the same time,” Kennedy recalls. And all three would leave to pursue other legal avenues. Clifford says, “It was the firm in York at the time. I really wanted to work there. I knew a number of the lawyers through York Suburban.”

Later in their careers, all three would become judges: Clifford in Montgomery County and Flannelly and Kennedy in York County. Clifford and Flannelly are still on the bench; Kennedy retired as a judge.

(As a note of interest: A fourth attorney, Joseph Adams, who joined a successor firm a few years later, would also go on to be elected a judge in York County and is currently President Judge of the York County bench.)

Kennedy, Flannelly and Clifford all point to the mentoring they received at Laucks & Monroe. “When I talk to younger lawyers and others,” Kennedy notes, “I emphasize the point of having mentors.” Flannelly underscores that by saying the partners “were all mentors in their own way. I had walked into a firm with a tremendous amount of experience.”

Laucks & Monroe was formed sometime prior to the start of World War II by Samuel Laucks and David Monroe. They opened their office in the second block of East Market Street.

Attorney Frank Countess says his father, Jon Countess, was hired in a 1965-66 timeframe. “Within a year, David Monroe became incapacitated” and Jon stepped up to take on more of the practice, Frank said. Jon would hire attorneys, and future partners, Gary Gilbert and Peter Andrews.

In 1980, Laucks & Monroe moved its offices to a newly constructed building on North Duke Street that was designed as legal offices. Laucks would leave the practice in 1985, and the name was changed to Countess Gilbert Andrews a year or so later. In 2005, Frank Countess says, the firm moved to its current headquarters in the second block of North George Street. At about the same time as the move, the name was changed again to CGA Law.

John Kennedy is now back basically where he started: he is “Of Counsel” with CGA Law, “although I do most of my work from home.” He specializes in mediation and arbitration. In addition, he is a regional liaison with the American Bar Association and the National Highway Safety Administration regarding repeat driving under the influence offenders.

Daniel Clifford sits on the Family Court bench in Montgomery County. He was elected in November 2015. Prior to being elected a judge, while in private practice, he received recognition for his work on international child custody cases.

Michael Flannelly was appointed a York County Judge in July 2012. In November 2015, he was elected to be a judge.

The three men sometimes see one another at judicial conferences.

That would give the three judges time to reminisce about how they began their careers as young lawyers in the same York law firm.

Gordon Freireich is a former editor of the York Sunday News. E-mail:gordon@newtongroup.com.